Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the plums in a stone jar with ¾ cup of sugar for each pound of fruit.
Make the jam
Set the jar in boiling water and cook until the plums are tender.
Remove the stones and cook the mixture longer until it becomes a pulp.
Add ¾ cup of sugar for each pound of fruit and cook slowly until thick and almost dry.
Store and serve
Transfer to jars, seal, and store in a cool place.
Slice to serve with toast or bread.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums
- Provide the fruit, pectin and acids that form the jam's body and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and draws water out of the fruit, helping it thicken as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cook slowly until thick and almost dry. Sugar and fruit must reduce until the sugar concentration and pectin set the jam. Cooking too briskly can scorch the sugar and fruit before the texture develops, while stopping too early leaves a runny jam that may spoil sooner.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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